Bits Bucket for June 22, 2015
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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German economist, China has a healthy economy:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-06/22/c_134345043.htm
Considering last week’s “it’s not a crash” performance of China’s stock market, I find no news on Shanghai this morning.
They must all have Father’s Day off.
News blackout Monday?
Maybe just too early?
It’s 9PM over there.
It is apparently the Dragon Boat Festival holiday. Probably a drunken brawl like our own Cardboard Boat Regatta.
Doh! Perhaps it was just too early for me.
Actually, I’ve slept poorly all weekend, either not falling asleep until 3-4am or awaking then and not getting back to sleep. Stress induced, sadly. I’m beginning to wonder whether perhaps friends and business should never be mixed.
I have been in that situation and I would say for the most part it is a bad idea.
“Actually, I’ve slept poorly all weekend, either not falling asleep until 3-4am or awaking then and not getting back to sleep.”
Didn’t sleep much either, thanks to discovering a dangerous app which is prone to inducing insomnia:
Duolingo.com
From Yesterday;
Comment by ibbots
2015-06-21 20:30:04
That’s an article on jtros. Cp gets full step up. Tax law 101 bro.
I already passed that intro #101…Seems like you need to take #102…Surviving spouse gets stepped up basis on “Deceased” spouse share only !!
CA is a community property state. The federal tax rules are very generous in that the surviving spouse gets a step up in basis for 100% of the community property assets on the first spouses passing, I.e. The surviving spouse can sell for zero gain following their spouses death ??
Besides, A community property State has NOTHING to do with Federal or State “Tax Law”…
You are so wrong ere its laughable…Check your reg’s BRO !!
If you are saying that the “Surviving spouse gets stepped up basis on “Deceased” spouse share only !!” then you are wrong.
It is very simple and has nothing to do with state property tax rules.
Here’s a link to a whole page of references stating 100% of CP basis is stepped up.
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=step+up+in+basis+of+community+property+on+death+of+spouse
If you prefer to make decisions based on bad advice or misinformation, then by all means do so.
I read the link…And I am not one to not admit he is wrong but I am still reluctant to acquiesce..First, community property allows for either spouse to will their interest to anyone and I am quit suspicious of why most would not hold title this way..I sure have not been advised this way and ALL of the people that I know of means do not hold title this way…I would be prepared to bet BIG that most real estate in this state is held in a trust or Joint tenancy…So, my suspicion is there are a few skeletons lurking in why one would not want to do this…
I put a phone call into a much higher authority than I….Will see…
Chinese holiday but Hong Kong was open and was up around 1%.
Pretty interesting how you had to go to a Chinese news outlet to find a German economist’s opinion!
Pretty interesting how you had to go to a Chinese news outlet to find a German economist’s opinion!
And a well respected one too. A like going using the time zones to my advantage, why wait for the Chinese stories to pop up on American sites around 8:00 a.m Monday, when Monday’s Chinese stories will post by 9:00 P.M. Sunday on the Asian sites? I have to go for the day.
The dude works from time to time for the CCP lecturing in Beijing. They didn’t have to go to Germany to interview him. Danny would not have found the article in the German news at 8AM or at any other time.
http://emi.bnu.edu.cn/english/seminars/79321.html
One world government modeled on the Chinese ethic indeed.
Despite spending more than $13,000 for every household…
If only we had even bigger government - we could solve this!
—————
The New American Dream Under Obama: Renting
IBD | 06/21/2015
The heavy federal hand in the housing market has been a disaster. Despite spending more than $13,000 for every household, Washington has record low homeownership to show for it, even among the middle class.
In fact, a just-released report by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies not only finds more middle-class families renting but many also struggling to make rent, as homeownership rates plunge lower than ever.
This is as shocking as it is depressing. It used to be that the middle class owned homes. Now it’s increasingly feeling “the strain of rising rents,” the reports says, as foreclosures and stagnant incomes drive more Americans into apartments and home rentals.
With last year’s drop in the homeownership rate to just 64.5%, nearly all the gains over the previous two decades have been erased. In fact, the study says, the number of homeowners fell for the eighth straight year, and the downtrend is expected to continue.
Meanwhile, this decade is shaping up to be the strongest in history for renting. And it’s not just millennials fueling rental market growth . It’s also the middle class.
Households aged 45-64 have accounted for about twice the share of renter growth as households under 35. And households in the top half of the national income range — where you expect to find high homeownership rates — contributed a whopping 43% of the growth among renters, Harvard found.
Even more troubling, “cost burdens are climbing the income ladder, affecting growing shares of not just low-income renters but moderate- and middle-income renters as well,” said the study, “The State of the Nation’s Housing 2015.”
That households in the top half of the national income range favor renting means more people with money are waking up and realizing what a massive ripoff and toilet flush of money that “owning” is
P.S. I have so much money left after “throwing money away on rent” every month that I don’t know where to throw it
How did you spend your $13,000 of obamamoney?
…to Monsanto, actually, it went there directly, the leftover went to Halliburton and paying off the war debts.
Nobody “owns” a $500k home. Slavery!
Got Cloward Piven?
Pay your bills! Wars are expensive.
just another Constitution hating communist democrat.
That is all there seems to be nowadays.
And gun restrictions that have worked so well in keeping Baltimore and Chicago the placid island of happiness that they be.
———
‘White racism,’ NRA are to blame for lax gun rules, Martin O’Malley says
The Los Angeles Times | June 21, 2015 | Cathleen Decker
Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley suggested Sunday that Congress had fallen under the sway of “white racism” and the political force of the National Rifle Assn. in refusing to respond with new laws to a cascade of shooting incidents in recent years..
Speaking before the nation’s mayors, gathered in San Francisco, O’Malley pointed to gun restrictions passed when he was governor of Maryland to ban assault weapons, enforce background checks and tighten permitting procedures — efforts that have been blocked at the national level by Republicans, and some Democrats, in Congress.
“One of the sad triumphs of white racism is the degree to which it has succeeded in subconsciously convincing so many of us, black and white, that somehow black lives don’t matter,” he said. “If the thousands of young men killed by gun violence every year across America were young, poor and white — rather than young, poor and black — it is hard to imagine that our Congress would continue to block common-sense measures to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.”
“How many acts of violence do we have to endure as a people before we stand up to the congressional lobbyists of the National Rifle Assn.? How many more Americans have to die?
MOLON LABE
I confess ignorance and finally looked that up. Interesting, and fun to read about.
“Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley…”
Looks like this mick is ready and willing to trade the 2nd Amendment for votes. Shame on this inside-out Oreo!
‘If Greece exits the EU and manages it well, it will be the end of the EU as other member nations suffer “Greek envy”’
That is why they have to make an example out of Greece. Spain, Portugal and Italy are watching!
It is coming down to the wire, and Monday could well be it for Greek Default in terms of decision, even if it won’t be final until the 30th. If things don’t go well on Monday, emergency measures like closing banks and such could start hitting by Tuesday.
—————————
Greeks fear bank closures — and possible ‘Grexit’ — if deal isn’t made at emergency EU summit
National Post [Canada] | Sunday, June 21, 2015 | Matthew Fisher
Either Greece’s banks will open on Monday and Christos Dranos’s butcher’s shop will still be in business. Or they won’t and his shop and the country’s ties to the Euro will be in serious peril….
Greece’s banks suffered a €4.2 billion ($5.8 billion) run last week ahead of an emergency European Union summit called for Monday in Brussels on the country’s deepening debt crisis and the continuing standoff between Athens and its foreign creditors….
A continuing rush for cash at ATM machines over the weekend suggests that panic has already set in. But beaches and coffee shops in Athens were as packed as ever — as was the Parthenon, underlining that at least the country’s last viable major industry, tourism, is still prospering….
Still, many Greeks remain convinced that the EU, the IMF and the European Central Bank are bluffing and that they will once again come through with funds at the last minute, as happened in 2012, and that Greece will not have to drop the euro, a possibility that has become known as the “Grexit.”
“They cannot let Greece collapse. Too much money is involved,” predicted a senior executive with one of Greece’s most well-known hotels, who offered only a first name because he was not authorized to speak publicly about such a sensitive subject. “I believe that Greece will get a further credit extension.”….
Although Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was in Brussels for backroom talks over the weekend, there is not much reason for optimism. His hard-left government, which was elected in January on a promise to end austerity, has not yet shown any signs that it is willing to undertake the cuts and tax rises that the EU and the IMF have demanded….
Greece can compete with Turkey for tourists, but at wage levels 1/2 of what they are now, that is why over 60% of the population wants to stay in the EU and continue to receive the subsidies.
Tax fat people
Here’s some interesting stuff:
https://www.aei.org/publication/top-10-things-i-learned-on-my-summer-trip-to-the-bakken-oil-fields-part-ii/
All of it is interesting but what is especially interesting is Part 7, the “Walkable Drilling Rigs” (as shown in the one minute video).
It is the secret that the Knights Templar whispered to Colombus. “Rivers of wind”.
Oops.
Scripting a narrative
Note the difference between the language in the link “condemnation of business” versus the article title “condemnation of billionaires, corporations”
Scripting a narrative
Either way you read it, it makes me so angry that I’m gonna vote for the nominee that Sheldon Adelson purchased
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/bernie-sanders-delivers-blistering-condemnation-of-business
And now back to your regularly scheduled Drudge Report links
Third video surfaces of ObamaCare consultant slamming US voters
The Hill - Sarah Ferris - 11/12/14
A third video has emerged in which ObamaCare consultant Jonathan Gruber attributes the passage of the healthcare law to the ignorance of American voters, describing it as “basic exploitation.”
Gruber’s comments were related to tax increases for high-cost healthcare plans, known as “Cadillac plans,” which he said would have been politically impossible if voters had been aware of the impact.
“It’s a very clever, you know, basic exploitation of the lack of economic understanding of the American voter,” Gruber said during a speech at the University of Rhode Island in 2012. “Who are the people going to blame? The evil insurance companies.”
Gruber came under fire earlier this week for saying in 2013 ObamaCare passed because of “the stupidity of the American voter.”
A second video was reported by Fox News on Tuesday night. In that video, Gruber again suggested that American voters were “too stupid to understand the difference” between subsidy caps and insurance companies taxes for the Cadillac plans.
Where were you on December 16, 2007?
I was donating money to the Ron Paul “money bomb” fundraising event timed to coincide with the date of the Boston Tea Party
P.S. there’s no wall around that ideological plantation, you can run away anytime
Now if the Media Scripters are smart they will extoll the virtues of Mr. Sanders and trash Hillary, to help him win the nom. Then they can trot out the Socialist Anti-Business playbook, allowing Jeb! to coast in for the win.
They are just as happy with Hillary as they are with Jeb, so why would they spoil a sure thing election by derailing her?
In fact, they would prefer her since the very wealthy tend to be pro-abortion and gay rights.
I’m not sure about that. I think the moneychangers find Hillary acceptable but would prefer Jeb. Now if they really want to mess things up for the Dems they could fund and encourage Sanders to run as an Ind. in the general, which would split the Dem vote and let Jeb coast for the win.
The .01 percent try to make sure they have economically favorable candidates from both parties running and they virtually always succeed. Then, they let the rest of the population decide the issues of abortion and gay rights.
If you are interested in studying climate and weather here’s a really nifty link:
http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/250hPa/orthographic
Right now I have the settings set to the Mode of Air, the Height set to 250 hPa (which shows the jet streams), the Overlay set to Wind, and the Projection set to O (the global view).
You can set it any way you like by clicking on the word “earth”.
WOW! Just WOW!! Fabulous! Thanks!
We need more equity for people to pull and buy new cars with.As long as they can service the debt things will be fine.
What more could one look forward to than a lifetime of servicing their creditors?
dying and leaving a huge unpaid and uncovered balance?
It is for the children
Fox News rallies the base:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/06/22/controversial-mit-economist-jonathan-gruber-reportedly-played-key-role-in
Only bigger government, more regulations, higher taxes, et cetera…
P.S. the health care “industry” is 18% of USA GDP
Only bigger government can save us!
———————————-
Third video surfaces of ObamaCare consultant slamming US voters
The Hill - Sarah Ferris - 11/12/14
A third video has emerged in which ObamaCare consultant Jonathan Gruber attributes the passage of the healthcare law to the ignorance of American voters, describing it as “basic exploitation.”
Gruber’s comments were related to tax increases for high-cost healthcare plans, known as “Cadillac plans,” which he said would have been politically impossible if voters had been aware of the impact.
“It’s a very clever, you know, basic exploitation of the lack of economic understanding of the American voter,” Gruber said during a speech at the University of Rhode Island in 2012. “Who are the people going to blame? The evil insurance companies.”
Gruber came under fire earlier this week for saying in 2013 ObamaCare passed because of “the stupidity of the American voter.”
A second video was reported by Fox News on Tuesday night. In that video, Gruber again suggested that American voters were “too stupid to understand the difference” between subsidy caps and insurance companies taxes for the Cadillac plans.
A third video has emerged in which American/Israeli dual citizen Sheldon Adelson attributes the 2016 election of the Rubio/Graham ticket to the ignorance of American voters
Moments after making these comments, perhaps believing that the microphones had been turned off, he is alleged to have muttered “stupid f*ing goyim”
The liberal way.
If you don’t like a law - just ignore it!
If you wish you had a law - just make it up!
If you don’t have facts to back you up - just make it up!
“Who are the people going to blame? The evil insurance companies.”
I have yet to see anyone blame the insurance companies, evil or not. Everyone is blaming Obama.
Isn’t the Fox News audience well aware of Gruber’s involvement with Obamacare? Is there any new information on that topic that’s of any interest?
Scripting a narrative
Top headline on the Huffington Post is about the Supreme Court’s imminent decision on Gay Marriage™
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/7630804
Salon dot com piles on to rally the base:
http://www.salon.com/2015/06/22/bigots_delusional_last_stand_same_sex_marriage_opponents_are_definitely_not_ready_to_admit_defeat/
And remember if you don’t want your children seeing Caitlyn Jenner’s crotch on the cover of Vanity Fair while you wait to pay for your groceries, you are a racist
Forward
Feminist website Jezebel dot com reports on birds attacking customers at a Chik-Fil-A, because the CEO of Chik-Fil-A doesn’t like gay people:
http://kitchenette.jezebel.com/enraged-birds-are-continually-attacking-customers-at-on-1712915760
Your base has been rallied
Feminist website Jezebel dot com reports on birds attacking customers at a Chik-Fil-A, because the CEO of Chik-Fil-A doesn’t like gay people
You mean the attacks weren’t out of solidarity with those delicious chickens?
http://wolfstreet.com/2015/06/21/housing-bubble-2-san-francisco-vs-america/
Everybody called it “Housing Bubble” after it imploded. Crazy things had been encouraged to happen to drive home prices into the stratosphere. Risks homebuyers and lenders took were enormous. Shady dealings everywhere. Everybody loved it. Governments at all levels incited it because tax revenues soar during housing bubbles. The housing industry did whatever it took to get there. Lenders got rich funding it. The Fed was looking down upon its creation with a divine sense of satisfaction. Then….
But that’s like so 2008.
As a resident of the San Gabriel Valley in SoCal I intimately empathize with the residents of Vancouver. Over the last couple of decades Ice seen so many business and places I great up with close because of the Chinese invasion. The cultural tenor of my home town has completely changed. To know that this was enabled by my own government is disheartening. My representatives have destroyed my neighborhood in the name of the NAR and other special interests. Many of my Asian neighbors, immigrants from Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc, are just as disturbed at the mainland Chinese immigrants as I am. There is no assimilation and they are putting Americans out of business and raising the RE costs for those who stay. We have absolutely no voice in government against the interests that benefit from this unchecked invasion. I have no issue with legal sensible immigration. I enjoy the Chinese food in my area. What I do not enjoy is getting leaned at when going into a Chinese supermarket to but tomatoes because I am not Chinese. Especially when the other local grocery have been forced to close for lack of business. The inverse would never happen in China, that is for sure…
Because you are a racist.
Immigration is great - especially when they only vote for one party.
I would not count on Chinese voting for Democrats.
As a resident of the San Gabriel Valley in SoCal”
Certain areas yea u R Screwed. will it stop or keep going ?
German Bund rout again?
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/bond/tmbmkde-10y?countrycode=bx&mod=MW_story_quote
This is becoming an ongoing feature of Grexit negotiations. Each time a Grexit seems imminent, Bunds and Treasurys rally. Once the can is safely kicked down the road, bund and long-term Treasury yields soar.
From this past Friday:
Credit Markets
Treasury Bonds Post Biggest Weekly Rally in Three Months
Worries over Greece’s debt crisis stoke demand for safe havens
By Min Zeng
Updated June 19, 2015 4:44 p.m. ET
U.S. Treasury bonds rallied Friday and capped the biggest one-week price gain in three months as worries over Greece’s debt crisis stoked demand for haven assets.
“There is a sense of unease in the markets as the clock continues to tick down to the approaching deadline for Greece to strike a deal to avoid a debt default,” said Millan Mulraine, deputy head of U.S. research and strategy at TD Securities in New York.
The bond market is stabilizing after a weekslong selloff driven by signs of improving economic outlook in the U.S. and eurozone and valuations concerns.
The Fed’s latest signal Wednesday that it would be slow to raise interest rates also drew money managers to buy Treasury bonds. These investors believe the central bank’s gradual approach would keep a lid on bond yields.
After reaching 2.5% last week, an eight-month peak on an intraday basis, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note has fallen and settled at 2.268% Friday.
…
June 22, 2015, 8:03 A.M. ET
U.S. Bond Yields Rise on Greek Optimism
By Amey Stone
Treasury yields were rising Monday morning as signs that Greece could be nearing a deal with its creditors that could allow it to avoid a default. Stock and bond markets in Greece as well as Italy, Spain and Portugal all rallied.
For U.S. government bonds, which have benefited lately from a flight to safety by foreign investors, a Greece compromise is a negative. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury was at 2.335% at 8 a.m. ET Monday, up from 2.258% at Friday’s close, according to data from Tradeweb.
…
Is this guy an idiot, or what? Seems he’s all concerned about terrizm from people from the US and Europe who fly out to fight with ISIS and then return, all radicalized and whatnot.
This is a VERY easy problem to solve. You simply don’t allow people from certain groups/countries to emigrate to the US in the first place. For any reason. That’s for starters. Is it unfair? Maybe, but tough noogies. Life is unfair.
Of course, having decided to admit these people, you could deny the returning fighters re-entry to the US.
What a boob this guy is.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rep-devin-nunes-america-faces-highest-threat-level-ever/
Scripting a narrative
I could mention William Kristol’s involvement with this, but since 2brony is working the day shift today, he’ll come back with a history lesson about the Barbary pirates in the 18th century
P.S. this country used to execute people who spied for foreign governments
Any who opposes unchecked immigration is a racists.
Any who opposes those who want to violently bring their “culture” to America is a racists.
They all vote democrat (for now) - so all is good.
The MSM is funny.
What they ignore and what they report.
Just scripting a narrative…
Never let a crisis go to waste.
———–
Hillary Clinton Supported and Celebrated Confederate Flag Day in Arkansas
Gateway Pundit | Jun 21st, 2015 | Jim Hoft
But when she was First Lady of the State of Arkansas they celebrated Confederate Flag Day each year… …at the Arkansas capital.
Confederate Flag Day is still going strong in Arkansas just like when the Clintons occupied the governor’s mansion.
In 1987, when her husband was governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton signed Act 116 that stated “The blue star above the word “ARKANSAS” is to commemorate the Confederate States of America.”
Today the Democrat-media complex is blaming the Charleston church shooting on the Confederate Flag. Meanwhile, their leading presidential candidate supported the flag with its own special day as First Lady of Arkansas.
This book “Ben Carson: Rx for America” compares past election results broken down by race with a poll reporting that 37% of black Americans self-identify as conservative, and predicts that if nominated, Ben Carson would sweep the swing states of Florida, Ohio, Virginia, and set the Democrat Party back by 20 to 30 years
http://www.amazon.com/Ben-Carson-John-Philip-Sousa/dp/0996253300
http://peakoil.com/consumption/missing-barrels-may-hold-new-oil-demand
GS is desperate to get out of its short positions prior to this being widely known.
get out of its shorts
Anything like all tied up in their underwear?
At what point will oil hoarders feel the urge to unload?
As the article shows what hoarding? The stocks are not going up as much as claimed. The contango related stocks have probably even been released since they made their money and the spread is no longer large enough to justify holding the oil.
China is hoarding cheap oil in a fleet of supertankers
By Andrew Stevens
China is hoarding oil
The world’s second-largest economy become the top oil importer in April. The key reason? China is taking advantage of cheap oil to boost its strategic reserves.
“They’ve been building out strategic storage. The goal is to build out to about 500 million barrels, compared to the U.S. capacity of 700 million to 800 million barrels,” said Jeff Brown of Singapore-based energy consultants FGE.
Brown said that while the numbers are a little murky, China has already built out about 150 million barrels of extra storage, with more capacity planned through the end of the year.
“They take a lot of pride in buying oil when it’s cheap,” he said.
…
This article wasn’t published by China Daily so it can’t be true.
Just like I said the other day. Commodities traders can’t seem to understand that China wants the actual commodity.
That said, in a country of over a billion people, 500 million barrels isn’t going to last long. If they want to keep up with the Obamas, they’ll need to build four times that.
“Commodities traders can’t seem to understand that China wants the actual commodity.”
Here’s to hoping they drown their domestic demand in a sea of cheap oil!
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/06/19/the-climate-wars-damage-to-science/
For people that really love science this should be very disturbing.
Let the real journalists script the narrative Dannyboy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/the-earth-is-on-the-brink-of-a-sixth-mass-extinction-scientists-say-and-its-humans-fault/2015/06/22/29fcd5fd-4fe7-4cf0-a866-f46c3700f7d5_story.html
And now back to your regularly scheduled Drudge Report links
To people who love science that entire website is disturbing. WUWT is equivalent to this: http://goo.gl/6jUI9T
Facts should never be disturbing to science and for more facts go to Climate4U and look under big picture and you will see there is nothing abnormal about the climate.
Key excerpt but don’t ignore the great graphs:
From figure 3 it is obvious that the global meteorological record (Fig.4) begins in the final part of the Little Ice Age, and thereby documents the following temperature increase, especially clear since about 1915. In other words, the temperature increase documented by meteorological records represents the temperature recovery following the cold Little Ice Age. The ongoing climate debate is essentially about this being mainly a natural temperature recovery, or caused by atmospheric CO2, especially for the time after 1975? It can, however, from figures 2, 3 and 4 be concluded that the temperature increase 1975-2000 is not unique when compared with past records, and that the net effect on temperature by atmospheric CO2 has been small or even absent (Fig.3).
From all diagrams shown above the still very short time period covered by the fine satellite observations is obvious. The period since 1979 only covers the most recent example of global warming (ca.1977-2001), but no examples of the many previous periods of warming or cooling. This should prudently be borne in mind when interpreting the temperature record since 1979 only, such as shown in several of the diagrams found on this website. As mentioned above the time since 1979 would only take up the final 3 cm of the entire 4600 km long geological climatic record, if each year is represented by one millimetre.
“Nothing abnormal about the climate”
Five of the ten warmest months in recorded history have occurred in the past six months, according to NOAA:
NOAA’s top ten warmest global monthly departures from average
0.83°C, Nov 2013
1) 0.89°C, Mar 2015 ***
1) 0.89°C, Feb 2015 ***
3) 0.88°C, Jan 2007
4) 0.87°C, May 2015 ***
4) 0.87°C, Feb 1998
6) 0.84°C, Dec 2014 ***
6) 0.84°C, Mar 2010
9) 0.82°C, Apr 2010
10) 0.81°C, Jan 2015 ***
Key word “recorded”, all the recorded history starts at the bottom of the little Ice Age, of course we are warmer until the next ice age little or major.
When the stakes are high, the truth should be naked.
WPA, are these daily average highs? Are these nightly average lows? Do you think it matters?
Here an example of “lower taxes” actually happening:
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2015/06/19/colorado-economy-slows-but-tax-refunds-still-on.html
Got TABOR?
That’s unpossible! Everyone knows that Colorado is the new California! Tax and spend, baby!
A tax cut isn’t a tax cut unless it goes to the “right people.” If you didn’t pay to get a Kansas repub elected, you’ve go a nice little sales tax premium you’ll be paying for the rest of your life.
When you can’t find a real journalist to script a narrative, an assistant professor of sociology will fit the bill:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/how-benevolent-sexism-drove-dylann-roofs-racist-massacre/2015/06/21/842bde50-9173-43ea-b9f6-5e2db82bbddd_story.html
Benevolent sexism?
I share my benevolent sexism with the M.A. in Womyn’s Studies barista who pours my coffee when I drop a nickel in the tip jar, LOLZ
California vs. Kansas:
http://www.decisionsonevidence.com/2014/07/trickle-down-economics-vs-investing-in-the-economy-kansas-vs-california/
Kansas = cut taxes and spending = trickle down = decreasing GDP = fail.
California = voter approved tax increase, increases in min. wage = Keynesism = increasing GDP = success.
For Kansas repubs, questioning trickle down economics is almost as blasphemous as not believing that the earth is 6,000 years old.
+1
Market watch on jobs…..hmmmmm
Don’t move to Chicago or ILLANNOY - you won’t like it here.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/there-are-the-states-that-still-havent-recovered-jobs-lost-in-recession-2015-06-19
The weather tells 70% of us that already. Good town to eat in though. Gotta live somewhere.
Why buy in one location when you can rent in another for 65% less?
http://www.reddit.com/r/vandwellers/new/
My favorite question/comment:
“I’ve been wanting to start van dwelling for years, but it seems so daunting to get started”
If you have to be somewhere, like a job, or to a lesser extent, school, living in a van is not exactly un-daunting IMHO. The downside is harassment by local law and possible security in general. Cold weather, bathroom use in the middle of the night, van repairs, etc. Now, if you have a bunch of friends all over the place in this country where you can park your van and go out and hike or bike for weeks, well there is some freedom there too. At hand is the basic question: How much do you need to live?
Project Syndicate
Opinion: The bloom is off the BRICS
Published: June 19, 2015 10:42 a.m. ET
Biggest emerging markets all have their problems, Boskin says
AFP/Getty Images
Commuters on a congested street of Kolkata, India.
By Michael J. Boskin
Columnist
STANFORD, Calif. (Project Syndicate) — A few years ago, pundits and policy makers were predicting that the BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — would be the new engines of global growth. Naive extrapolation of rapid growth led many people to imagine an ever-brighter future for these economies — and, thanks to them, for the rest of the world as well.
But now the bloom is off the rose. The economies of Brazil and Russia are contracting, while those of China and South Africa have slowed substantially. Only India’s growth rate has stayed up, now slightly exceeding China’s. Will the BRICS fulfill their former promise? Or are continued problems inevitable?
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how do you say fang nu in terms of health care?
Slaves galore right round the corner.
This is what happens when the low info crowd has no clue what they are voting for - voting has consequences. March on comrades!!! What a f…ing mess….
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-22/obamas-single-payer-monopoly-looms-healthcare-merger-mania-heats
They vote to steal your $
Not stupid just thieves
Weekend tally - 3 dead 33 wounded….
and what do we hear in the MSM on this weekly count - CRICKETS!!
This is appalling even by Ch*tcago standards. Rummy has not said anything about this weekly carnage in …..well……weeks. What a f…ing mess.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-3-killed-33-wounded-in-weekend-gun-violence-20150622-story.html
11 to 1 ratio of wounded to killed?
When are these loosers gonna learn that despite how cool it looks in rap videos and on album covers, holding your gun sideways while firing is less accurate…
Is the Chicago Tribune not part of the MSM?
Declining readership disqualifies the Trib from the universe of MSM
How about the Chicago Sun Times? They appear to cover a lot of crime in the city.
http://chicago.suntimes.com/category/7/71/news/crime/
First-time buyers lift U.S. home sales to 5-1/2-year high
U.S. home resales surged to a 5-1/2-year high in May as first-time buyers stepped into the market, the latest indication that housing and overall economic activity were gathering steam in the second quarter.
The strengthening economic outlook likely keeps the Federal Reserve on course to raise interest rates later this year.
The National Association of Realtors said on Monday existing home sales increased 5.1 percent to an annual rate of 5.35 million units, the highest level since November 2009. That put
sales this year on track for their strongest gain since 2007.
“It suggests that the U.S. housing market recovery is back on track after the missteps earlier this year. We expect this upbeat tone in the housing recovery to continue as the favorable domestic fundamentals begin to reassert themselves,” said Millan Mulraine, deputy chief economist at TD Securities in New York.
Tightening labor market conditions are starting to spur stronger wage growth, boosting demand for housing.
Last month’s increase reversed April’s surprise drop in purchases, which economists had dismissed as a blip given that forward-looking indicators on home sales, including mortgage applications, had been fairly strong during that period.
The Realtors group revised April’s sales pace up to 5.09 million units from the previously reported 5.04 million units. Economists had forecast home resales rising to a 5.26 million-unit pace last month.
First-time buyers accounted for 32 percent of transactions, the largest share since September 2012. Still, the share remains well below the 40 percent to 45 percent that economists and realtors say is required for a robust housing market.
May’s sturdy home sales report added to last week’s data on building permits in portraying an upbeat picture of the housing market. It joined strong retail sales, consumer sentiment and employment data in suggesting a building up of momentum in the economy after output contracted at the start of the year.
U.S. stocks were trading higher on the housing data. Market sentiment was also buoyed by hopes of a deal to avert a debt default by Greece. The housing index .HGX was up 0.63 percent, with shares in D.R. Horton (DHI.N) the largest U.S. homebuilder, rising 1.5 percent.
The dollar rose slightly against a basket of currencies, while prices for longer-dated U.S. Treasury debt fell sharply.
EASING CREDIT CONDITIONS
The share of first-time buyers was up from 27 percent a year ago and the latest increase reflects moves by the government to ease lending conditions for this demographic through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance companies it controls.
“These programs should boost sales activity through the summer,” said Stephanie Karol, an economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts.
Away from first-time buyers, young adults setting up homes are also giving housing a steady pulse after a lackluster performance over the last few years.
http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/06/22/us-usa-economy-idINKBN0P21J220150622
“The National Association of Realtors said”
That’s where you stop reading and start mocking.
The truth?
US Housing Demand Plunges To 20 Year Low
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fqSztKilps8/VFlPKlr52JI/AAAAAAAAhKU/v5oS41S-y0s/s1600/MBANov52014.PNG
U dont know didily squat about housing.
So you better dump that depreciating shack before you really lose your a$$.
Aurora, CO Housing Prices Fall 17% On Oil Collapse
http://www.movoto.com/aurora-co/market-trends/
McFadden & Whitehead - Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VgYczUH-QWQ
Clarence Carter - Looking For A Fox:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BFJC68SC6p4
http://www.crackshackormansion.com/
http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/22/sqft-is-a-real-estate-app-to-help-homeowners-slash-broker-commissions/
The acting is so bad.
This is one of the top search results for the terms: Obama+Ape+Africa:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/08/north-korea-obama-monkey_n_5288121.html
Forward
Leave it to a libertarian to be the only one who catches this here:
“The Greek proposals included higher taxes and welfare charges and steps to curtail early retirement, but not the nominal pension and wage cuts first sought by lenders. Leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, elected in January on a promise to end austerity measures, also appeared to have avoided raising value added tax on electricity or loosening job protection laws.”
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/eu-welcomes-11th-hour-greek-proposals-forceps-delivery-013008357–business.html
So Europe pressured the Greek elected / unelected rulers to pledge higher taxes without any regard for what the Greek electorate would like. And I thought the “progressives” marveled about the Greek “democracy?”
How can entities outside a nation have any weight on what the government of another country does to its own people?
So any of you on this blog who loves taxes, would you be more willing to move to Greece now?
Stay away from the drills or you will lose your ability to produce tears.
Did you buy the dip on Grexit fears?
1:08 am ET
Jun 23, 2015
Economy & Business
Grexit? Buy, Buy, Buy
By Giles Turner
Once, a possible Greek exit rocked markets and gave fund managers the jitters. But some think that amid the eurozone’s nascent recovery, Greece might have suppressed sentiment in the markets just enough to create a textbook buying opportunity.
At present, markets are optimistic about the prospect of a compromise between Greece and its creditors on the back off fresh proposals made Monday. However, the history of failed talks hardly works in Greece’s favor, and with still no deal, the prospect of a Greek exit remains alive and well.
For some fund managers, that might not matter. Many have been steering clear of Greek stocks and bonds, and plenty have been keeping their powder dry in the rest of the eurozone too (cash levels in Europe hit a six-year high in early June, according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey). Net overweight positions in the eurozone fell in June, according to the BAML survey; fears over increased volatility and a higher euro against the dollar, which would hurt eurozone exporters, has also rocked sentiment. The Euro Stoxx 600 index of pan-European shares is down 5.7% since the end of May.
But some are ready to jump right in.
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Apparently China and LA are not the only cities on the planet with serious smog issues.
World Chile
Chile Declares First Environmental Emergency Since 1999 Over Air Pollution
Nolan Feeney
June 22, 2015
Smog shrouds Chile’s capital Santiago, June 22, 2015.
Air pollution in Santiago is so bad that Chile declared a state of environmental emergency on Monday for the capital and the surrounding metropolitan area.
The decision forces around 40% of the country’s 1.7 million automobiles off the road, Reuters reports, and more than 900 factories must also cease operations. Chile’s first environmental emergency since 1999 is expected to last for 24 hours but can be extended if conditions don’t improve.
“We’re currently facing unusual conditions, with one of the driest Junes in over 40 years as well as really bad air circulation conditions in the Santiago valley in recent days, which boosts the concentration of contamination,” Chile’s Environment Ministry said in a statement.
…
phony scandals